Generally used black-and-white silver halide photographic materials (e.g., X-ray film, graphic arts film, photographic processing which comprises a developing step using an alkaline developer containing a hydroquinone as a developing agent and a 3-pyrazolidone compound or an aminophenol compound as an auxiliary developing agent, a fixing step and a washing step. In the image formation, it is particularly desired to ensure rapid and consistent developing processing. For the purpose of rapid processing, there is used a highly active developer containing a large quantity of hydroquinone as a developing agent. Therein, a large quantity of sulfite is also contained in order to maintain the stability of the developer to air oxidation.
On the other hand, using reductones represented by ascorbic acid as a black-and-white developing agent is known in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,688,549, 3,826,654 and 5,098,819, and so on. The developer using reductones as a developing agent is apt to lower its pH through the processing of photographic materials and the deterioration by air oxidation, compared with the hydroquinone developer. As a means taken to prevent the lowering of pH, it is known to raise the buffer concentration in U.S. Pat. No. 5,236,816. However, this means is still unsatisfactory as the art of suppressing the pH change. Further, the method of adding a salicylic acid derivative to an ascorbic acid developer is disclosed in EP-0531582 A1. However, this method cannot ensure sufficient stability of ascorbic acid in the developer, and so it is also unsatisfactory as the art of suppressing the pH change.